Jisha, a 30 year old Dalit Law student, was allegedly raped and found murdered on 28th April 2016 at her home in Perumbavoor of Ernakulam district in Kerela. According to the reports Jisha was tortured with a sharp weapon and her body bore more than 30 stab wounds, including a 13 cm one around her chest that reached her liver, pointing to the brutal torture. She was also believed to have been brutally kicked in the stomach as her intestines were out. She was suffocated to death and also was beaten with a hard object on the back of her head.

In present day India Dalit women are placed at the absolute bottom of the social hierarchy as they face systemic and structural discrimination threefold: as Dalits, as poor, and as women. The victim’s family faced social alienation because they were poor and Dalit. They were not even allowed to draw water from their neighbours’ wells. The harsh reality of the suppression, struggle and torture Dalit women face every day of their miserable lives are a direct result of the severe exploitation and suppression by the upper classes.

National Council of Churches in India calls upon Churches and all religious institutions to condemn the atrocities against Dalits and to impress upon the government of the State demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits and rendering justice to the Jisha’s family.